The Calhoun Church of Christ Podcast

No Other Gods! -7 "What Comes First?"

The great divide between the serious disciple who wants to change the world and a casual churchgoer is right here. Their prayer life. Extensive praying powerfully puts God first in your life.

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." (Colossians 4:2 NIV)

This episode begins with the amazing prayer life of Daniel the prophet, and continues by showing how Jesus, and all his serious disciples in the New Testament, dedicated themselves to a life saturated with prayer.

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." (Luke 5:16 NIV)

 

No Other Gods! -6 "God Wants You In Heaven"

Why does God want us to Himself exclusively? There must be some reason. There is. He wants you in Heaven with Him for eternity. He wants you to have eternal life.

Many people don't believe that. They don't believe they can know they have eternal life, but the Bible says we can know.

 ^"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." (1st John 5:13 NIV)

God, through men like John, wrote the Bible to help us know we have eternal life - if we are Christ's disciples.

Listen to this episode and become convinced that God's love through Christ's work gives us eternal life.

No Other Gods! -5 "HOW To Put God First"

In this series we've heard about how important it is to put God first, above all other influences in your life. But sometimes we leave out how to put Him first.

The key to successfully putting God first in your life is the supernatural element in a relationship to God.

Listen and learn about this essential key to putting God first.

No Other Gods! -4 "The Blessing of Honor"

God commanded Israel to have "no other gods", which included the concept of honor. The Lord said in Samuel's day, "Those who honor me, I will honor". (1st Samuel 2:30)

Putting God first means honoring Him. In this message, we look at the life of Moses and follow his record on honoring God, a record that wasn't spotless.

But we also look at Jesus and see his amazing attention to putting his Father first... and his flawless attention to honor.

Dishonoring God can cost you everything, even if you're a believer.

 

No Other Gods! -3 "The Spirit And The Cross"

Even though God will not take second place and demands to be first in the believer's life, narcissists find it extremely hard to give way to anyone who wants to displace their ego. The ancient fictional god Narcissus became captivated by his own reflection and lived a hellish life because of it. And many believers today live in that same torture chamber because they refuse to put God first.

In this message, we look at some people who were able to put God first in difficult circumstances, something others considered impossible. How did they do it? Listen and learn about the connection between the Holy Spirit and putting God first.

 

No Other Gods! -2 "They Put God First"

When Jehovah God brought Israel out of Egyptian slavery, he called them to be his covenant nation and said, “You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3 NIV)

After 430 years in Egypt and centuries of worshipping Egypt's gods (see Joshua 24:14), Israel found it hard to forget their pagan ways.

But many in Israel did keep the command to worship Jehovah only and put him first.

In this episode, you'll hear about some of those amazing people who put God first. They understood that he would tolerate no competition from anything or anyone who tries to replace him in a believer's life. - and you'll also find out why Jesus said his disciples must "take up their cross" and follow him. 

No Other Gods! -"The Jealous God"

When their lives were filled with failure, God instructed Israel to, "give careful thought to your ways" - five times through the prophet Haggai.

Why? Because their harvests weren't producing and their economy had failed - "You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:6 NIV)

So, the Lord's advice was, "build the temple". He'd rescued them from slavery in Babylon as prisoners of war. They'd been freed and sent back to Jerusalem so they could rebuild the temple, but they procrastinated and built their own houses instead. They hadn't put God first, so life had become hard, almost unbearable.

In the life of a believer, God will not take second place to anyone or anything. Listen and see how the Lord rescues us from a meaningless life when we put Him first.

More Than Conquerors - "Conquering Disappointment"

How do "more than conquerors" conquer life's inevitable disappointments?

Scripture is full of such conquests over disappointment. In this podcast we look at several of these overcomers.

David at Ziklag. The overcomers in Revelation. John the Baptist and his interaction with Jesus over disappointment. Jesus' disappointment with his own disciples and how he dealt with it.

Listen and learn about Scriptural strategies designed to overcome disappointment.

More Than Conquerors - "Winning With Love"

Sometimes it's good to go back before you go ahead. The Lord told Israel to "Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;" (Isaiah 51:1 NIV).

That "rock" was Abraham, plus Sarah his wife. The Lord used two people who were unable to have children to build a massive nation. It began small but grew large.

So, what "rock' should the church return to? Where did the modern church get its power? What are our ancient roots and how does that change us today?

Today's church has an amazing history, a powerful world-changing record of 2,000 years.

How are we doing today? Should we go back to the "rock" and resurrect the love and passion of the original church?

Listen and find encouragement as we watch God pour his love out on lost humanity.

Cooperating With The Spirit - "A Focused Mind"

Most spiritual failures happen at this point:

"The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6 NIV)

Keeping the mind focused on what the Holy Spirit wants - that will transform every part of your life.

"Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." (Romans 8:5 NIV)

So, how does a believer learn to "set" the mind on what the Spirit wants? Listen and learn more about this fascinating way to live.